ses. He was
further described as ungentlemanly by a brace of spinsters who had been
within earshot on the veranda the morning he had abused the Asquith
roads, but their evidence was not looked upon as damning. That Mr. Cooke
would appear at the cotillon never entered any one's head.

Thus it was, for a fortnight, Mr. Cooke maintained a most rigid
seclusion. Would that he had discovered in the shroud of mystery the
cloak of fame!

VOLUME 2.

CHAPTER V

It was small wonder, said the knowing at Asquith, that Mr. Charles
Wrexell Allen should be attracted by Irene Trevor. With the lake breezes
of the north the red and the tan came into her cheeks, those boon
companions of the open who are best won by the water-winds. Perhaps they
brought, too, the spring to the step and the light under the long lashes
when she flashed a look across the table. Little by little it became
plain that Miss Trevor was gaining ground with the Celebrity to the
neglect of the other young women at Asquith, and when it was announced
that he was to lead the cotillon with her, the fact was regarded as
significant. Even at Asquith such things were talked about. Mr. Allen
became a topic and a matter of conjecture. He was, I believe, generally
regarded as a good match; his unimpeachable man-servant argued worldly
possessions, of which other indications were not lacking, while his
crest was cited as a material sign of family. Yet when Miss Brewster,
one of the brace of spinsters, who hailed from Brookline and purported
to be an up-to-date edition of the Boston Blue Book, questioned the
Celebrity on this vital point after the searching manner warranted
by the gravity of the subject, he was unable to acquit himself
satisfactorily. When this conversation was repeated in detail within the
hearing of the father of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly
for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the
Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been
a country storekeeper. In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the
apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not
only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the
pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of
ceremonies. He originated the figures and arranged the couples, of which
there were twelve from Asquith and ten additional young women. These
ten were assigned to the ten y